


Spring the Trap

by Morgyn Leri (morgynleri)



Series: Daerja [2]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, GFY, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-05
Updated: 2016-04-05
Packaged: 2018-05-31 11:24:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,282
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6468313
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/morgynleri/pseuds/Morgyn%20Leri
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Even if the whole thing is a trap, Anakin can’t not follow Obi-Wan; his brother needs him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Spring the Trap

**Author's Note:**

  * For [flamethrower](https://archiveofourown.org/users/flamethrower/gifts).



> Venge as a concept belongs to the fabulous Flamethrower. In this case, Venge is particularly inspired by his existence in [Re-Entry: Journey of the Whills](http://archiveofourown.org/series/11260), in the A Drop of Fire chapters, and the Shadows chapters.

The floors here are thick with dust, and should give him a clear direction Obi-Wan had gone. Yet there are no footprints in the dust, or any sign that it had been disturbed. Just an even layer of dust that swirls up when he kicks at it, catching at his throat and making him cough.

Anakin knows Obi-Wan came down here, though. He can feel it in the Force. Can feel Obi-Wan's presence saturating this space, heavy and thick as a smothering cloak. Dark as anything Anakin had felt from Sidious after they'd discovered the Sith at the heart of the Republic. He wished he'd been able to do more than flee, like so many others, wished he'd been able to protect more than himself and Ahsoka and Rex from the clones that turned on them all.

"Obi-Wan." He keeps trying to find something of his once-friend and step-brother through the Force, and some sign of where Obi-Wan has stashed Leia. That bright light should be easy to find, and Anakin worries that he still can't find his daughter. He never should have left her on Tatooine.

"Obi-Wan, I know you're down here." Anakin wraps one of the strips of fabric looped loosely around his neck higher, to keep the dust out of his mouth and nose, and takes a step away from the stairs. "I'm here. Alone. You don't have to keep hiding."

The hall ends one direction past the stairs in a heavy wall that Anakin thinks is the supporting wall for the outer stairs of the Temple. If anything lies that direction, it's well hidden. He turns the other direction, flicking on the search light he'd brought with him. None of them want Obi-Wan to think he's being threatened or cornered, not until they know Leia is safely back.

_That's not my name._

The words come from everywhere and nowhere, echoing in his head and in the air, though Anakin doesn't know how Obi-Wan can do that. It's not a trick he's heard of from any Jedi, and it's not one Sidious used. Something uniquely Obi-Wan, perhaps.

"Than what is your name?" Anakin sweeps the light slowly back and forth across the broad hallway, looking for anything that he can use to track Obi-Wan. Dust, dust, and more dust. Old light fixtures that no longer have any power. Dark and gaping spaces between delicately carved columns, where anyone could hide, and it would be hard for Anakin to see them. Impossible to feel where, with the Force as saturated in the feel of Obi-Wan and darkness as it is.

_Haven't you heard it? I'm sure they know it, even wherever you were hiding._

Anakin shakes his head, frowning, trying to figure out who Obi-Wan would be talking about. What name he is supposed to have heard and connected with Obi-Wan, rather than someone else.

_You're not stupid, little brother, even if sometimes you act like it._

"I could just call you brother, and not worry about the name you're using now." Anakin thinks there is still something to be recovered of Obi-Wan, if he's calling Anakin brother.

But the name. What had he missed?

He walks slowly into the hallway while he turns over the thoughts in his head, tries to remember the names that were talked about. Watching the space between the first set of columns as best he can for an ambush from one side or the other.

One name comes to mind, and Anakin stops, feeling his face going cold. "Venge. You're the Sith they've been calling Venge."

Amusement swirls through the Force, though any warmth it should have is leeched out by the certainty that he's right. The howling vengeance of the war-dead, armored shadows lead by a dead Jedi with golden eyes and a pale blue blade. An armada that no one has caught, thundering Empire, fledgling Alliance, or tattered Confederacy. Or perhaps just a single ship, since no two reports of attacks match anywhere save the leader. The Sith, because Anakin is sure no Jedi would breathe darkness the way the ghost-leader is said to.

_Are they calling me a Sith now?_

"They call you a ghost, Obi-Wan."

_Repeating that does not make it my name. I left that name behind with the dead._

The dust stirs from the floor, swirling through the air in patterns that make Anakin's head hurt to look at them, and pulse with shadows. He closes his eyes, lowering the search light so it doesn't illuminate whatever Obi-Wan is doing with the dust. What he's making, laced through with vengeful pain and protective fury.

"Qui-Gon had a pyre." They'd had to intercept a newly-Imperial transport to get it, to make sure Qui-Gon's body didn't join others in the hands of the Empire. Especially not those left to rot in the Temple itself. Anakin doesn't know if that knowledge will help, but he had to let Obi-Wan know, anyway.

_I know._

The dust feels like sand against Anakin's exposed skin, stinging as it pelts him. Only for a moment, before he hears it subside. Settling, leaving nothing but the faint heat of abraded skin.

There's a scrape of sound a moment later, and Anakin opens his eyes, bringing the light up partway, so it illuminates part of the hallway without a great risk of blinding a person, at least if that person is Obi-Wan.

All he catches is the edge of a cloak, swirling away into the shadows between the columns.

_Come on, then._

Anakin doesn't hesitate, though he knows he should be wary of following a Sith, even one who was - is - Obi-Wan. The shadows between the columns dim even the light in his hand, leaving him only just enough to find the outline of an open door hiding behind the forward column. The hallway beyond it is narrower, and bare even of dust for the first several meters.

Movement draws his attention to a juncture, another hallway that parallels the colonnaded one he's left. Obi-Wan is already going around the corner into it, and Anakin hurries to catch up, only to see no sign of Obi-Wan in the corridor. He shines the light along the walls, reaching out with the Force to look with it as well, taking precious minutes finding where Obi-Wan could have vanished to so quickly.

The door is well-hidden, but gives readily to a bit of pressure in the Force, revealing a room that might once have been used as a meeting place. Obi-Wan is waiting for him, looking barely any different from when Anakin had last seen him. A little more haggard, a little thinner, robes a little more worn.

Only his eyes reveal the worst of the change to anyone who couldn't feel the Force, burning gold that glows faintly in the dim light of the room. The darkness that swirls around him, shrouding him like his cloak, is thick enough Anakin can almost taste it, bitter and metallic on the back of his tongue.

"Very good, Anakin."

Stepping inside, Anakin tries not to flinch when the door shuts behind him, hoping he hadn't walked into a trap.

"Where's Leia?"

"Not here. However, if you will wait a moment." Obi-Wan smiles, lifting his arm to show Anakin the com before he activates it. "Commander Cody, please make sure Leia makes it safely back to her mother. I have Anakin."

A trap, baited and sprung, but Anakin doesn't much care if it means Leia is safe, and the others are safe. His family, and his family includes Obi-Wan, and the rest of them can take care of themselves and the younglings for a while without him. His brother needs him here now.

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted on tumblr 17 February 2016.
> 
> For the prompt: Anakin and Obi-Wan, in the lower layers of the Jedi temple there were secrets


End file.
